Gay Identity

Relationships are a fundamental element of human and social
interactions because they provide us with meanings around
physical and abstract objects that allow us to make sense of our
reality and identities. There is little Mexican research regarding
how gay men construct a sense of identity through their social
interactions. This article describes the relationships that gay men
in Mexico City have within their families, with their friends, and
with their partners. Fifteen in-depth interviews are analyzed
through elements of Grounded Theory and Critical Discourse
Analysis. Results show that family reproduced homophobia with
participants that taught them that their gay identity is socially
unaccepted. This is deconstructed through friendships with other
gay men. Partner relationships are lived as one of the last milestones
in the construction of a gay identity. Some men question
hegemonic values around sexuality through polyamorous and
polygamous relationships. Conclusions show the importance of
these social relationships for gay men’s emotional well-being,
but that their relationships are often impacted by cultural and
interpersonal homophobia.

This chapter provides an introduction to thematic analysis as a method for identifying and interpreting patterns in qualitative data. We distinguish between two main ‘schools’ of thematic analysis: (1) approaches with a foothold in quantitative research which are concerned with the ‘reliability’ of coding and theme development and (2) our thoroughly qualitative approach which views coding and theme development as organic and fluid and as ultimately and inescapably subjective. In this chapter we focus on the latter. Another hallmark of our approach to thematic analysis is that it offers a theoretically flexible method with wide-ranging applications rather than a theoretically-informed methodology that necessarily sets limits on application. We describe different ways of implementing thematic analysis and then outline a six phase process for conducting a thematic analysis involving: (1) data familiarization; (2) coding; (3) searching for themes; (4) reviewing themes; (5) defining and naming themes; and (6) writing up.

Thematic Analysis (TA) is an accessible, flexible, and increasingly popular method of qualitative data analysis. Learning to do it provides the qualitative researcher with a foundation in the basic skills needed to engage with other approaches to qualitative data analysis. In this chapter, we first outline the basics of what TA is and explain why it is so useful. The main part of the chapter then demonstrates how to do thematic analysis, using a worked example with data from one of our own research projects—an interview-based study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) students’ experiences of university life. We conclude by discussing how to conduct thematic analysis well and how to avoid doing it poorly.

中文提要:
「同性戀」是西方二十世紀所彙整發明而使用的一個現代概念，這個概念在中文文化的世界裡，也已經移植生根，成為當前中文地區如臺灣、香港...等地標定情慾人群的常用字彙。這個歷史是立足於現代臺灣「同志運動」的發展現況，企圖往前追溯相關「同性情慾」的概念，並且探討社會對於情慾人群其身份認知的
建構歷程。在現代情慾同志(tongzhi)或酷兒(queer)理念尚未普及之前，實踐同性情慾的人群都受到了污名形象的連結。
本論文將時間場域置於七０年代到八０年代末的兩個十年週期裡，本文根據文獻蒐集或是口述訪問，試圖發現社會中同性情慾事件浮出的時機，以及探討社會對於該情慾現象的認知內容。
本論文於介紹中西方對於同性情慾歷史的研究概況後，隨即將七０年代可遇見與發展情慾聯誼的空間，作一介紹。並且說明七０年代文學中，所展現當時的情慾概念。七０年代亦有一些關於同性情慾的刑事案件，這些案件促使各界逐漸重視「同性戀」現象。其中於八０年代前後，臺灣的醫學界也開始進行本土個案的研究。
該研究後來被推導出「同性戀」病理概念的通則，這些論述總將性取向的成因歸咎到家庭教育與親職角色。無論是其後的《孽子》小說，或是持續出現的案件，都使類似青少年「成長學習」的歸因被強調而出。但自 1985 年臺灣出現本土首位因同性關係
而感染的愛滋感染者後，社會突然亟欲瞭解「同性戀」的文化與其心聲。數個雜誌紛紛製作專題，義工與自白者的出現，使得社會認知「同性戀」的角度，從無可癒的壞孩子轉而變成弱勢族群的一份子。
Abstract 英文提要:
The thesis deals with the social recognition of homosexua
lity during the past two decades. As some scholars known, "homosexuals" were invented in the early twenty century. Now, the noun is well known to Chinese areas also.
Somehow, in Taiwan, "homosexuals" was not a particular role in the early 70's. In the early 80's, the psychiatry report of local patients became the typical image by the doctors' and media's promotion. In the mid-80's, the criminals and the youth roles in the famous gay novel made gays as bad guys. While AIDS crisis attacked Taiwan, gays were thought as a "dangerous group". Again and again, the society always faced the dark side of gay even ts. Put it another way, only the obvious events happened, and the society discovered homosexuality. Anyway, the events always carried negative gay roles. Under this condition, the doctors, the social work scholar, the media and the police
all attributed "homosexuals" to the family and parents factors. In Taiwanes
medical term, though gays were asked to be tolerated, but the
sympaty was out of "incurable" growing process, not for eterosexuality introspection.
As the first AIDS virus carrier appeared, The medical fields and media were eager to know the gay groups and gay culture suddenly. When the gay volunteers'
statement and the gay topics of magazines showed up frequently. The real voices of gays began to express the needs and the miserable life. And the minority view was forming then.

La littérature sur les chrétien·ne·s gays et lesbiennes souligne en particulier les renégociations identitaires qu’ils et elles opèrent entre leur identification religieuse et leur identification sexuelle. Les moyens de ces renégociations, comme les pratiques religieuses proposées par les Églises inclusives et les organisations LGBT confessionnelles, restent cependant peu documentés. Cet article s’intéresse au rituel du Fêtez-Dieu du groupe parisien de l’association David & Jonathan. Il s’agit d’un rituel spécifique en ce qu’il n’est ni un rite traditionnel proposé par une dénomination religieuse inclusive instituée, ni une pratique issue des « religiosités séculières ». Sur la base d’observations ethnographiques et d’entretiens avec des membres de David & Jonathan, l’article montre comment le rituel du Fêtez-Dieu articule une socialisation religieuse à une socialisation homosexuelle, favorisant ainsi la réduction de la tension identitaire. Les critiques adressées au Fêtez-Dieu révèlent toutefois différents modes d’appropriation du rituel. L’article espère ainsi contribuer à l’analyse des socialisations homosexuelles secondaires et de la modernité religieuse.

This article offers a way to think about queer life in Asia beyond a focus on the West, by considering flows and influences within Asia. One of the early formulations of proposing queer regionality, and a queer geographic approach that emphasizes critical Area Studies as a way to provincialize Euro-American centrism. ||
บทความนี้นําเสนอวิธีคิดเกี่ยวกับชีวิตเพศทางเลือกในเอเชียนอกเหนือจากการมุ่งเน้นไปที่ตะวันตกโดยพิจารณากระแสและอิทธิพลภายในเอเชีย || 
本文通过考虑亚洲内部的流动和影响，提供了一种思考亚洲酷儿生活的方法，而不是关注西方。||
이 글은 서구에 초점을 맞추는 것을 넘어 아시아의 퀴어 생활에 대해 생각할 수 있는 방법을 제시하며, 아시아 내의 흐름과 영향을 고려한다.  ||
Artikel ini menawarkan cara untuk berfikir tentang kehidupan aneh di Asia di luar tumpuan kepada Barat, dengan mempertimbangkan aliran dan pengaruh di Asia. ||
یہ مضمون ایشیا کے اندر بہاؤ اور اثرات پر غور کرتے ہوئے مغرب پر توجہ مرکوز کرنے سے ہٹ کر ایشیا میں ہم جنس پرست زندگی کے بارے میں سوچنے کا ایک طریقہ پیش کرتا ہے۔

I explore the manifestation and clash of Latino, Gay, and Christian identities within Alex Sanchez’s The God Box, a young adult novel published in 2007 dealing with a teenager’s struggle to find common ground between his Christian background, his inhibited Mexican-American heritage, and his emerging homosexual inclinations. It is expected that by understanding the mechanisms and negotiations of these points of conflict within the novel, one can come to a greater (or at least more enlightened) understanding of how these forces can clash and manifest within the lives of Latino gay youth in contemporary American society. This is not to say that the tensions present within The God Box are representative of the case of all Latino gay youth, or that a full understanding of the novel’s tensions can lead to a full and encompassing comprehension of this socio-cultural sector in actual life. Rather, my exploration and analysis of the novel is a small but significant step into an academic venue of Latino gay representations in contemporary young adult fiction—an area that has remained virtually unexplored from a literary, cultural, and academic stance. In turn, this exploration and analysis is also an attempt at deeply scrutinizing a fictional approach towards a cultural conciliation that possibly mirrors how negotiations between race, sexuality, and religion take place in actual life.

The article retraces the locations of E. M. Forster's novels (Italy, England, India) and seeks to establish their role in the context of conventional geography of homosexual desire at the turn of the 19th and the 20th century. Published in the collection "New Aspects of E. M. Forster."

Originally published in 1960s Gay Pulp Fiction: The Misplaced Heritage (U. of Massachusetts, 2013), pp. 78-119.  From 1958 to 1972, H. Lynn Womack ran Guild Press out of Washington, D.C.  Specializing in materials including physique magazines, novels and short stories, travel guidebooks, and pornography, Guild Press aided gay men in developing a sense of positive personal identity, in part by denying the mainstream public narratives of gay men as sinful, sick, or criminal.  Their publications also pointed readers toward the development of gay male community in the years before and directly after Stonewall.  Despite winning a crucial obscenity case at the Supreme Court in 1962 (Manual Enterprises v. Day), Womack and Guild Press would eventually be brought down by a series of FBI and court actions in the early 1970s.

Religious principles and values provide meaning and affect personal identity. They may also conflict with intimate needs and desires. This article examines how gay Catholics manage conflicting areas between their sexual and religious selves. Eight Polish gays with a Catholic background, who identified themselves as strong believers, shared their experiences during semi-structured interviews that were subjected to interpreta-tive phenomenological analysis. Results showed that internaliza-tion of the principles taught by the Roman Catholic Church triggered a conflict when participants became aware of their homosexuality. They used a number of strategies to reconcile conflicting identities, including limiting their religious involvement , questioning interpretation of the doctrine, undermining priests' authority, trying to reject homosexual attraction, putting trust in God's plan, using professional help, and seeking acceptance from clergy. This study alerts mental health professionals to specific risk factors associated with experiencing a religious conflict, and offers guidelines for counseling and further research.

In this short report of an exploratory qualitative study, we consider whether a
small group of younger British lesbians, gay men and bisexuals felt under pressure
to conform to lesbian/gay appearance norms and used their clothing and
appearance to actively construct and manage a visual identity as lesbian, gay and
bisexual (LGB).

Niniejsza praca porusza problem przestrzennej koncentracji osób homoseksualnych w warunkach wielkomiejskich. Przybliżono w niej socjologiczne spojrzenie na seksualność człowieka i proces kształtowania tożsamości seksualnej wykraczającej poza tradycyjne ramy heteronormatywizmu, a także dokonano przeglądu literatury przedmiotu dotyczącej geografii seksualności oraz przedstawiono rolę, jaką duże miasta odgrywają w kreowaniu współczesnej tożsamości gejowskiej. Powyższe zagadnienia są punktem wyjścia do empirycznej analizy warunków życia osób homoseksualnych mieszkających na warszawskim Powiślu, które z uwagi na historycznie spełniane funkcje oraz zachodzące obecnie procesy gentryfikacyjne wykazuje duże podobieństwo do dzielnic wielu miast Stanów Zjednoczonych i Europy Zachodniej, przeobrażonych w wioski gejowskie. W celu znalezienia odpowiedzi na pytanie, kim są i jaki styl życia prowadzą geje z Powiśla oraz w jaki sposób ich obecność w tym rejonie miasta wpływa na jego sytuację ekonomiczno-społeczną i przypisywane mu znaczenia symboliczne, przeprowadzono wywiady pogłębione z dwunastoma mężczyznami o orientacji homoseksualnej, mieszkającymi na terenie Powiśla. Analiza zebranego materiału pokazała, że Powiśle jest atrakcyjnym miejscem do życia dla osób stosunkowo młodych, przeważnie dobrze wykształconych i dysponujących wysokimi dochodami, które można zaliczyć do klasy średniej wyższej. Wśród nich pewną grupę stanowią geje oraz inni członkowie społeczności LGBT, jednak samemu Powiślu daleko do miana warszawskiej dzielnicy gejowskiej.

Since the 1908 debut of Ford's mass-produced Model T, the automobile has been associated with a particular configuration of hegemonic masculinity. Such persistent representations—in traditional historical accounts, industry rhetoric, and popular culture—assume only those who are straight, White, and male are truly capable of understanding and appreciating the automobile. This examination of gay car culture— as practiced through participation in the Lambda Car Club International — suggests otherwise. Calling on Lambda club websites, Facebook® pages, and videos, as well as survey responses from eleven Lambda members, this investigation provides insight into the meaning gay drivers ascribe to the automobile, uncovers the valuable connections to the past automobiles make possible, and explores the role of cars in creating community among gay drivers. Perhaps more importantly, this inquiry provides an alternative construction of masculinity, one with the potential to disrupt and displace the current hegemonic model that permeates American car culture.

When two young men find themselves in a situation where one tells the other he is gay, they become partners in the phenomenon of coming out. This complex process of sexual identity development, including the labeling of one’s attractions and desires towards taking up a subject position as a gay individual and the expression of one’s sexual identity to other people, is called coming out of the closet, or simply, coming out (Chirrey, 2003; Davies, 1992).

This study attempts to examine how young gay men come out to others via a relatively novel perspective ‒ from the viewpoint of those to whom a gay man communicates and expresses his sexual identity. That is, from the perspective not of gay men themselves, but of those they come out to.

Consider coming out as one form of communication of information regarding one’s sexual orientation and identity to others. It is helpful to distinguish between the two sides in this process: (1) the gay man himself, and (2) the person he comes out to. Using terminology borrowed from communication studies and the social psychology of self-disclosure, I refer to the first social agent as the discloser and to the second as the recipient or target of coming out.

Mention the topic of coming out and perhaps the most intuitive, if self-evident, way to understand it will be to consider coming out as an experience exclusively of the disclosers. In this view, coming out is “about gay men” and exclusively about them. But what happens when we flip the coming out coin and focus the analysis not on disclosers but on their targets? And what can we learn about gay sexual identities and perhaps even heterosexuality, masculinity, and friendship when we consider the perspective of heterosexual male friends who are the targets of coming out?

These are the questions I explore throughout this thesis. I begin with an overview of coming out as a focal point for lesbian and gay studies, with a particular emphasis on lesbian and gay psychology. I zero in on coming out to others as a social interaction process and present an argument for the analysis of targets’ perspectives, leading to the central research questions guiding this project. Finally, I describe my own standpoints as a researcher informed by more personal motivations as well as an academic interest in the intersection of social psychology and gender/sexuality studies.

This article draws on in-depth interviews with 35 openly gay male undergraduates from four universities in England to develop an understanding of the changing nature of language related to homosexuality. In addition to finding a diminution in the prevalence of homophobic language, we demonstrate that participants maintain complex and nuanced understandings of phrases that do not use homo-phobic pejoratives, such as 'that's so gay'. The majority of participants rejected the notion that these phrases are inherently homophobic, instead arguing that the intent with which they are said and the context in which they are used are vital in understanding their meaning and effect. We conceptualize an intent-context-effect matrix to understand the interdependency of these variables. Highlighting the situated nature of this matrix, we also demonstrate the importance of the existence of shared norms between those saying and hearing the phrase when interpreting such language.

Using public toilets and latrinalia (graffiti found inside public toilets) as demonstrations, this paper questions the rigid perception of place identities and how this rigidity may ultimately contribute to the persistence of placelessness. It draws specifically on Relph’s 1976 discussions on the three elements that constitute placelessness – (in)authenticity, (lack of) distinctiveness and (dis)connection – and examines these in view of Butler’s theorisation of human identities.

book reviews:
* Philip Graus (2017) Place and Placelessness Revisited, Urban Policy and Research, 35:3, 369-371, DOI: 10.1080/08111146.2017.1329802
* Yiwei Huang (2020) Place and placelessness revisited, Journal of Cultural Geography, 37:2, 254-255, DOI: 10.1080/08873631.2020.1761581

This study explored how British gay men make sense of their appearance and clothing practices, and the pressures and concerns they attend to in discursively negotiating their visual identities. A convenience sample of 20 mostly young, White and middle class self-identified gay men responded to a qualitative survey on dress and appearance. The participants clearly understood the rules of compulsory heterosexuality and the risks of looking ‘too gay’. In the data, there was both a strong resistance to the notion of gay as a ‘master status’ and an orientation to the ‘coming out’ imperative in gay communities. Analysis revealed the overriding importance of discourses of authentic individuality for making sense of visual identity and the reported cultivation of appearance and clothing practices that communicate the message that: ‘I’m not hiding (too closeted), I’m not shouting (too gay), I’m just me (an authentic individual who just happens to be gay)’.

This article addresses the various ideological constructions of the US-Mexican border from the perspective of Latino Men Who Have Sex with Men. These men constructed the border through the assignation of various qualities supposedly inherent in bodies and landscapes. In engaging in these assignations, this article will argue that in fact these men embody ideologies that create the border as not just a mark in the geopolitical landscape but also as a lived and practiced reality. The border is therefore a bodily experience of regimes of power-knowledge-pleasure (Foucault) which allows borderlanders to manipulate these regimes for various reasons including: avoiding social injury; use of specific zones of the body; and engaging in identity transvestism. Overall, this article engages queer theory; borderland theory; and demonstrates the complexity of the border as a lived and embodied phenomenon.

Religious principles and values provide meaning and affect personal identity. They may also conflict with intimate needs and desires. This article examines how gay Catholics manage conflicting areas between their sexual and religious selves. Eight Polish gays with a Catholic background, who identified themselves as strong believers, shared their experiences during semi-structured interviews that were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results showed that internalization of the principles taught by the Roman Catholic Church triggered a conflict when participants became aware of their homosexuality. They used a number of strategies to reconcile conflicting identities, including limiting their religious involvement, questioning interpretation of the doctrine, undermining priests’ authority, trying to reject homosexual attraction, putting trust in God’s plan, using professional help, and seeking acceptance from clergy. This study alerts mental health professionals to...

Many theories of self-construction in memory narratives point to their potential for making sense of major identity changes. Across multiple narrative tellings, individuals’ stories are shaped by selective encouragement and suppression of story elements in relation to the social contexts of storytelling. While previous contextual work has concentrated on the effect of listeners, other important contextual factors include shared beliefs and understanding about how identity changes occur. Repeated sharing may result in stories that increasingly reflect those shared beliefs about identity, evidenced in the stories told by individual group members. Thus, the longer an individual has identified as part of a particular group, the more his or her narrative will reflect the shared beliefs of this group. The present study examines whether the coming out stories of gay men (aged 18-28) increasingly reflect shared beliefs about the coming out process as length of time since coming out increases. Results (N=21) suggest that time since coming out positively predicts the degree to which individuals’ stories reflect group beliefs. Individual’s who stories more closely reflected shared group beliefs reported greater levels of integration into the gay and lesbian community. Results are discussed in terms of theories of storytelling and identity development, as well as implications for social support.

This study takes an initial look at the sign language interpreting provision for the Deaf gay community and the implications this has for interpreters working with that client group. It also gives an overview as to the Gay Sign Variation (GSV), which may be used by Deaf gay people and an insight into Deaf gay communities.

"O presente artigo destina-se a analisar as violências de caráter simbólico vivenciadas por homossexuais masculinos de Juiz de Fora, com destaque para o âmbito profissional. Recuperamos trabalhos que tratam da construção da homossexualidade, do homossexual masculino no trabalho, da violência simbólica e sua relação as homossexualidades. Entrevistamos seis homossexuais masculinos por meio da técnica de história oral. Tratamos os dados por meio da análise de conteúdo qualitativa temática considerando duas categorias: violência em caráter amplo e violência e trabalho. De modo geral, as manifestações de violência simbólica abrangem uma visão negativa sobre os não heterossexuais, estereótipos e a não aceitação. No trabalho, tais manifestações também se apresentam por meio da internalização do ponto de vista heteronomativo, exclusão e desqualificação do homossexual."

This study explored how British gay men make sense of their appearance and clothing practices and the pressures and concerns they attend to in discursively negotiating their visual identities. A convenience sample of 20 mostly young, White, and middle-class self-identified gay men responded to a qualitative survey on dress and appearance. The participants clearly understood the rules of compulsory heterosexuality and the risks of looking "too gay." In the data, there was both a strong resistance to the notion of gay as a "master status" and an orientation to the "coming out" imperative in gay communities. The analysis revealed the overriding importance of discourses of authentic individuality for making sense of visual identity and the reported cultivation of appearance and clothing practices that communicate the message that: "I'm not hiding (too closeted), I'm not shouting (too gay), I'm just me (an authentic individual who just happens to be gay)."

This study explored how British gay men make sense of their appearance and clothing practices, and the pressures and concerns they attend to in discursively negotiating their visual identities. A convenience sample of 20 mostly young, White and middle class self-identified gay men responded to a qualitative survey on dress and appearance. The participants clearly understood the rules of compulsory heterosexuality and the risks of looking 'too gay'. In the data, there was both a strong resistance to the notion of gay as a 'master status' and an orientation to the 'coming out' imperative in gay communities. Analysis revealed the overriding importance of discourses of authentic individuality for making sense of visual identity and the reported cultivation of appearance and clothing practices that communicate the message that: 'I'm not hiding (too closeted), I'm not shouting (too gay), I'm just me (an authentic individual who just happens to be gay)'.

In this study I interpret the interaction of gay/queer culture and straight masculinities, especially the hegemonic masculinity. I concentrate on gay porn, observing the ways it handles the category of heterosexuality: on the one hand, gay porn fetishises it as an ultimate masculinity (in so-called straight gay porn), on the other hand, it endeavour to dominate it, at least symbolically (e.g. in genre “broke straight boys”). I also analyse the “gay-for-pay” phenomenon and so-called “bisexual porn”. Furthermore, I analyse the possible onset of a post-identity, indicated by several authors, according to which “fix” identities yield to the current positioning of subjects on the basis of performed sexual practices (e.g. gay identity is being replaced by the “men who have sex with men” label). A new visual discourses of consumer culture, connected to masculinity, are metrosexuality and sporno. Metrosexuality represents a new type of masculinity of urban origin fetishising the male body, sporno a new iconography inspired by gay porn, putting up (straight) men into admiration of men of any sexuality. On the basis of these examples I conclude that despite the seeming democratization of identities, evoking the success of the queer theory or a postmodern „pomosexuality“ concept, all identities still remain controlled by the hegemonic masculinity, moreover, at present they are being noticeably subjected to the consumerist logic.

Keywords: gay – queer – masculinity – hegemonic masculinity – heterosexuality – gay culture – gay identity – gay porn – “straight gay porn” – “gay-for-pay” – bisexual porn – “straight gay” – “straight-acting gay” – post-identity – metrosexuality – sporno – gaze – consumerism